Google to block Flash on Chrome, 10 websites exempted

Internet giant Google has announced that it plans to phase out Flash support in its Chrome browser as a default. In a blog post, the company has detailed plans to start blocking Flash content with Chrome.TOI Tech | May 16, 2016, 12:34 IST

Adobe's Flash technology has just suffered another blow. Internet giant Google has announced that it plans to phase out Flash support in its Chrome browser as a default. In a blog post, the company has detailed plans to start blocking Flash content with Chrome.

"Later this year we plan to change how Chromium hints to websites about the presence of Flash Player, by changing the default response of Navigator.plugins and Navigator.mimeTypes. If a site offers an HTML5 experience, this change will make that the primary experience. We will continue to ship Flash Player with Chrome, and if a site truly requires Flash, a prompt will appear at the top of the page when the user first visits that site, giving them the option of allowing it to run for that site (see the proposal for the mock-ups)," the company says in the post.

This means users can enable Flash content on site-by-site basis. However, once the user enables it, Chrome will remember to run Flash on the website on all future visits.

"To reduce the initial user impact, and avoid over-prompting, Chrome will introduce this feature with a temporary whitelist of the current top Flash sites(1). This whitelist will expire after one year, and will be periodically revisited throughout the year, to remove sites whose usage no longer warrants an exception," adds the post.

Only 10 sites would have Flash enabled by default. These include YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo, VK, Live, Yandex.ru, OK.ru, Twitch.tv, Amazon and Mail.ru. However, exemptions for these websites too is only for a year.

Google further adds, "Chrome will also be adding policy controls so that enterprises will be able to select the appropriate experience for their users, which will include the ability to completely disable the feature."

The search numero uno started blocking Flash on a limited scale from last year June when it updated Chrome browser to "intelligently" pause unnecessary content on webpages to save battery for laptop users. "When you’re on a webpage that runs Flash, we’ll intelligently pause content (like Flash animations) that aren’t central to the webpage, while keeping central content (like a video) playing without interruption. If we accidentally pause something you were interested in, you can just click it to resume playback. This update significantly reduces power consumption, allowing you to surf the web longer before having to hunt for a power outlet," the company had then announced.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) pulled up Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for warning subscribers of certain plans that their SIM cards would be deactivated if they do not recharge their pre-paid accounts though these subscribers had the minimum required balance.